Edwin Wilson (November 10, 1927 – December 2, 2023) was an American

theater critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...

. He most notably worked for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' from 1972 to 1994.

Early life and education

Born in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

on November 10, 1927, Wilson studied at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and received the first

Doctor of Fine Arts Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) is a professional doctoral degree in fine arts. It may also be awarded as an honorary degree. Description Doctoral programmes leading to DFAs in the UK are of equivalent level to a PhD, with the same requirement to demon ...

degree awarded by Yale.

Career

Wilson taught at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

and the

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

for thirty years. He was the president of the

New York Drama Critics' Circle The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 23 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.Jon ...

and the

Theatre Development Fund The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) is a not-for-profit performing arts service organization in New York City. Created in 1968 to help an ailing New York theatre industry, TDF supports audiences and artists through a variety of programs. Initially ...

, the chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Drama Jury, and a board member of the

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

and the

John Golden John Lionel Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was an American actor, songwriter, author, and theatrical producer. As a songwriter, he is best-known as lyricist for " Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four film ...

Fund. Wilson was either the author or co-author, with

Alvin Goldfarb Alvin "Al" Goldfarb is an American academic administrator who served as the tenth president of Western Illinois University from 2002 to 2011. From 1977 to 2002, he was on the faculty of the department of theatre at Illinois State University in No ...

, of several widely used text books on theater. He hosted a television series called ''Spotlight with Ed Wilson'', which was produced by the Center for Advanced Study of the Theatre Arts (CASTA, now the Martin E. Segal Theater Center) at the

and

CUNY TV CUNY TV is a non-commercial educational station of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It offers telecourse programming in various subjects ranging from mathematics, physics, and biology to history, art, and social studies ...

. His 90 television interviews with theater artists appeared on 200

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations around the country, and can be watched in a playlist on YouTube.

Death

Wilson died on December 2, 2023, at the age of 96.

Books

Wilson's books included: *Wilson, Edwin (2019). ''Magic Time: a Memoir.'' Hanover, NH : Smith and Kraus. ISBN 9781575259420. * * * * * * He also wrote a novel, ''The Patron Murders''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Edwin 1927 births 2023 deaths American theater critics American male journalists The Wall Street Journal people American male novelists CUNY Graduate Center faculty Hunter College faculty Writers from Nashville, Tennessee Historians of theatre Vanderbilt University alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni